This invention relates to broadloom carpet and more particularly to such carpet having a backing including a barrier impervious to fluid penetration.
Carpet, whether tufted or woven, does not provide a fluid barrier to the under surface upon which the carpet is positioned. The vast majority of manufactured carpet is tufted carpet wherein yarn is stitched into a web of primary backing material. In most cases this primary backing comprises a woven web of polypropylene including ribbon fibers. The majority of carpets are backed with a latex and a secondary backing which may be jute, but substantially more frequently with a woven polypropylene having spun or fibrillated fibers which adhere to latex. An example of a secondary backing of this latter type is sold by AMOCO under the trademark ACTION BAC. Carpets having such secondary backings may be installed on a cushion material and stretched onto a floor for residential use, or may be directly glued onto a floor, the latter being a procedure generally limited to commercial use. Other carpets having such a secondary backing may be directly bonded by latex to a foam material which acts as the cushion for carpet.
When a liquid such as a beverage, milk or the like or urine from a pet, or rain in the case of outdoor carpet, accidentally spills onto the surface of the carpet the liquid flows through the carpet to the back of the carpet and soaks all the way through to the cushion and the floor beneath. Carpet manufacturers universally recommend that the spills be cleaned up promptly, but generally it is highly impracticable to clean and absorb the spills before at least some of the liquid has penetrated through the backing to the sub-floor. This leads to possible permanent odors, stains, formation and entrapment of bacteria, and other potentially carpet destroying characteristics.
Attempts to solve this problem to date have met with limited success. For example, a backing system from DuPont comprising a coating known under the trademark SPILLBLOCK which works to keep spills from soaking through the carpet is stated by the manufacturer not to be completely impervious to the spills and the manufacturer recommends cleaning up the spills promptly. Additionally, closed cell foams or solid polymeric coatings have been utilized in commercial applications. However, such products are very costly and thus have a very limited application. Accordingly, the problem persists and has not been solved completely or economically in the prior art.